This invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for operating a cellular or portable telephone and, more particularly, to an apparatus and a method by which a user may activate a cellular or portable telephone without visiting a provider of cellular telephone services.
The use of cellular telephones has increased greatly in recent years. A cellular telephone needs to be activated before it can be employed to make and receive telephone calls. Cellular telephones are typically activated by an employee of the cellular telephone service provider, e.g., a service engineer, and activation generally takes place at one of the service provider's facilities or authorized cellular shop.
To activate the cellular telephone, an authorized individual, e.g., a service engineer, usually accesses a service program stored in the cellular telephone by entering an access code. Once the service program has been accessed, the service program presents various menus so that the authorized individual may change or input selected information, such as the telephone number assigned to the cellular telephone. A service program generally allows a number of variables or settings to be initialized or revised.
If the user does not purchase his or her cellular telephone directly from one of the service provider's facilities, the user is usually required take the cellular telephone to such a facility for activation. The user may be inconvenienced, perhaps greatly, by taking his or her cellular telephone to an authorized facility for activation.
Cellular telephones would be easier to use if they were capable of being activated by users, without the need for travel to authorized facilities for activation. Moreover, cellular telephones could be sold or distributed through more diverse channels of trade if they were capable of being activated by users. However, service providers are generally reluctant to disclose access codes for service programs since such programs, once accessed, permit whoever is viewing the various service programming menus to input or change a number of variables or settings. Only one of such variables or settings is the telephone number assigned to the cellular telephone. A user who accesses the service program through the access code could, for instance, inadvertently alter a desired parameter while attempting to activate the cellular telephone, which could result in an inoperative telephone.
One system for permitting a user to activate a cellular telephone utilizes a one-time code that is stored in a nonvolatile memory in the cellular telephone. When the user enters the one-time code to set the telephone number assigned to the cellular telephone, the one-time code is replaced in the memory by an invalid value. Neither a user nor a service engineer may change the invalid value or reset the one-time code. If, for example, a cellular telephone has been returned to the service provider by one user, and the service provider desires to provide the cellular telephone to another user, the telephone would have to be sent back to the factory for resetting the one-time code so that the later user could activate the telephone.
Accordingly, a need exists for a cellular telephone that is easier to use and more convenient to activate. A need exists for a cellular telephone that can be activated by a user without the necessity for travel to an authorized facility for activation. A need exists for a cellular telephone that can be activated by a user, but that prevents the user from changing variables or settings other than the telephone number assigned to the cellular telephone. A need also exists for a cellular telephone that allows a service provider to reset a one-time code used for entering or programming the telephone number assigned to the cellular telephone.